CHAPTER 2 A CRITICAL REVIEW OF SOME PROPOSALS FOR A SEMANTICS USING IMAGE- AND PROCESS-SCHEMATA§ We shall discuss specific proposals in the framework of cognitive semantics and situation semantics (cf. the theoretical evaluation in Chapter 1, Sections 4.1 and 4.2). In the framework of cognitive semantics three subtypes of models can be distinguished: § This a preprint version of chapter 2 in: Wildgen, Wolfgang, 1994. Process, Image, and Meaning. A Realistic Model of the Meanings of Sentences and Narrative Texts, Series: Pragmatics and Beyond, New Series, No. 31, Benjamins, Amsterdam (p. 29-43). For the bibliography see ibidem: 255-270. 2 PROCESS, IMAGE, AND MEANING a. The proposals made by Talmy since 1972 (unpublished dissertation). He introduced image-like representations of an informal type (diagrams, schematic pictures) for specific domains of grammar which lend themselves to a spatio-temporal analysis (local pronouns, spatial prepositions, verbs of motion). In more recent research he developed a "force-dynamic" representation of causatives and connectives like "because" and "despite". b. Langacker (since 1979) proposed a more general pictorial representation for grammatical analysis and developed a very general, although informal, theory first called "space-grammar" and later "cognitive grammar" (see Langacker, 1987, 1991). Within this framework he proposed pictorial representations for verbs and for the constituent structure of sentences. c. Lakoff gives an image-like analysis of the preposition "over" within a framework called "cognitive semantics". He refers to Langacker (1987) as a more general account, for the analysis of "over" he proposes a set of image- like descriptions (cf. also Brugman, 1989). 1 Talmy's imaging systems and his "force dynamics" Talmy made use of some pictorial representations in his analysis of the verbs of motion and especially in the analysis of the prepositions that occur in sentences like the following (cf. Talmy 1975: 201-205): - The ball sailed past his head. - The ball rolled across the border. - The ball sailed through the window-pane. - The ball sailed through the hoop. - He walked along a row of houses. - He walked along the path. A CRITICAL REVIEW OF IMAGE-SEMANTICS 3 - He crawled up inside the chimney. - He ran around the house. - He walked across the field. - He ran around the house. The technique of description follows the methodology of generative semantics using "deep" predicates (predicate constants) and a series of transformations from deep structure to surface structure, and pictures have a "merely suggestive" character. (Some pictures appear on pp. 201-204, the formulaic description prevails.) Beginning with his article "How Language Structures Space" (1983) in an interdisciplinary volume on "Spatial Orientation" Talmy introduced the concept of "imaging systems". He first distinguished four systems: a. "abstract geometric characterizations of objects and their relationships to each other within different reference frames." (ibid.: 253) b. "perspective point - ... the point within a scene at which one conceptually places ones "mental eyes" to look out over the rest of the scene ..." (ibid.: 255) c. "the particular" distribution of attention to be given to a referent scene from an indicated perspective point." (ibid.: 256) d. "force dynamics, i.e. the ways that objects are conceived to interrelate with respect to the exertion of and the resistance to force, the overcoming of such resistance, barriers to the exertion of force and the removal of such barriers, etc." (ibid.: 257) In Talmy (1987) the first system is called "structural schematization" and although space and time are mentioned besides "some other conceptual dimension", the reference to geometry is lacking (ibid.: 28). In more recent papers (1991, 1993) the fourth system is lacking and the first system is called "configurational structure". Thus the original impetus towards an interdisciplinary framework, which would relate spatial perception and language, is reduced and the processual aspects emphasized in Talmy's "force dynamics" disappear.1 Nevertheless, there is still a major theoretical difference 4 PROCESS, IMAGE, AND MEANING between Talmy's and Langacker's work, insofar as Talmy's semantics systematically considers parallels between spatial perception and basic linguistic schematizations. His descriptive analyses can be considered as empirical (although intuitive) work which samples major aspects of natural language in order to show a plausible dependence on perceptual processes in our everyday experience (experimental results of psychology, results of neuropsychology or neuroinformatics are not considered). A theoretical (or formal) framework in which both semantic and perceptual facts could be integrated is not even programmatically postulated. As the processual aspects are central for the following chapters I shall focus on Talmy's treatment of force dynamics in his article "Force Dynamics in Language and Cognition" (1988). Talmy introduces the following basic concepts: - exertion of force, - resistance to such exertion, - overcoming of such resistance, - blockage of a force, - removal of such blockage. Talmy (1988: 5) considers the following sentences: a. The ball kept rolling because of the wind blowing on it. b. The log kept lying on the incline because of the ridge there. c. The ball kept rolling despite the stiff grass. d. The shed kept standing despite the gale wind blowing against it. For the sentences (a) and (b) which have "because" as a conjunction the intrinsic force tendency is opposed to the result of the force interaction, i.e. there is a change in the force constellation. In Talmy's imaginistic representation this opposition shows up as a contrast between a vector (>) of change and a zero vector (o).2 a. The ball kept rolling because of the wind blowing on it. intrinsic force tendency: towards rest (o) --->--- result of the force interaction: action (-->--) A CRITICAL REVIEW OF IMAGE-SEMANTICS 5 b. The log kept lying on the incline because of the ridge there. intrinsic force tendency: towards action (>) ----o---- result of the force interaction: rest ---o--- As "laterality" (in the sense of Talmy) is irrelevant, mirror-image diagrams represent the same FD pattern (FD = force dynamics) (ibid.: 4); the invariant feature (responsible for the invariant conjunction: "because") is depolarization, either from: ---0 ---/--->--- (rest -> action) or --->---/---o--- (action -> rest) In the case of the conjunction "despite", the opposite is the case: c. The ball kept rolling despite the stiff grass. intrinsic force tendency: towards action (>) ---->----- result of force interaction: action (--->---) d. The shed kept standing despite the gale wind blowing against it intrinsic force tendency: towards rest (o) ---o--- result of force interaction: rest (---o---) The invariant responsible for the conjunction "despite" is the non-event, non-change. In this sense "despite" negates a default interpretation of "because". The basic feature is a transition from rest to action or vice versa in the case of "because" and the negation of this change in the case of "despite". Although Talmy repudiates a formal, geometrical or topological analysis (Lakoff would surely call it "objectivistic") his pictorial representations make use of mathematical notions in a naive way. Thus we can associate his symbols with different mathematical sub-disciplines. +, -, > : algebra circles, a rectangle, parts of a circle : geometry -->--, --o-- : (vaguely related to) vector-calculus --/-- : (vaguely related to) phase-transitions in dynamical systems theory 6 PROCESS, IMAGE, AND MEANING The quasi-formal symbols in Talmy's description come from algebra, geometry, topology and vector-calculus, but the mathematical properties of these concepts are neither exploited nor respected. The interpretation of forces as protagonists and antagonists takes up an old tradition without acknowledging the sources. The opposition between pro- tagonist and antagonist goes back to classifications of figures and characters in novels and dramas. In our century Propp (1928/58) proposed a basic classifi- cation containing the roles of the hero and his opponents. Beaugrande and Colby (1979) introduced the corresponding notion "protagonist" and "antagonist" into modern, computer-assisted textual analysis. The problem with an analysis like Talmy's is its integration into existing (partially) formalized theories of grammar. It is not consistent, if on the one hand algebraic, generative formalisms (although not fully exploited) are taken for granted and, on the other, formal topological devices are not accepted. Either the whole grammar should be formulated in intuitive terms or every systematic piece of linguistic modelling should be further developed, with the aim of arriving at a formal account at least of the central parts of the grammar which is being proposed. 2 The image schemata proposed by George Lakoff Beginning with his 1977 article "Linguistic Gestalts" Lakoff tried to go beyond the algebraic and logical models which dominated theoretical linguistics in the seventies. In "Linguistic Gestalts" (1977: 247) he states the programmatic concerns which fall under the traditional term "gestalt": "Thought, perception, emotions, cognitive processing, motor activity and lan- guage are all organized in terms of the same kinds of structures, which I am calling gestalts." In his work "Women, Fire and Dangerous Things" (1987) Lakoff reviews a series of positions